Ayala energy unit taking in strategic investor

AC Energy Philippines (Acen) is gearing up for a potential P20-billion infusion from Arran Investment Pte Ltd., an affiliate of Singapore wealth fund GIC Private Ltd., for a 17.5-percent stake in the Ayala group’s power generation platform.

In a disclosure, Acen said its board of directors had approved this move and that an investment agreement as well as a shareholders agreement with the Singaporeans were expected to be signed within this month.

Also, the Ayala unit said the entry of Arran Investment as a strategic investor would become possible upon the completion of Acen’s stock rights offering (SRO) and follow-on offering as well as the infusion of parent firm AC Energy Inc.’s international assets.

The former is expected to wrap up in the first quarter of 2021 while the latter is slated for completion in the third quarter of the same year.

“The investment, which will be implemented through a combination of subscription to 4 billion primary shares via a private placement and purchase of secondary shares from AC Energy, will be at a price of P2.97 per share on a post-SRO basis and is subject to agreed price adjustments,” Acen said.

Such a price means a 25-percent premium on the board-approved SRO price of P2.37 per share, which still needs regulator’s approval. In the nine months to September this year, Acen saw its net income reach P953 million, or close to triple the P339.5 million achieved in the same period of 2019.

This was a result of a yearlong transformation, which is still continuing, after the Ayala group assumed management and control from the Phinma group. Before the change of hands, the company was known as Phinma Energy Corp.

For Arran Investment, this is another major move following its participation in the acquisition in 2017 of a 31.7-percent stake in the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) through a consortium formed with Australia’s Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.

Their strategic investment in EDC led to the Lopez-led firm’s voluntary delisting from the Philippine Stock Exchange in 2018.